B=PASS May 2016 Interview

 

The curtain is finally about to open on the “LAST VISUALIVE: Saigo no Tsuki -LAST MOON-”, GACKT’s first original tour in 7 years, which will have started by the time this magazine is printed. And on April 27th, the anticipated new album LAST MOON will be released. As for LAST MOON, you let me listen to the songs that are currently being completed, but, including the songs that have already been released, each one is so deep and I was overwhelmed.

“We’re just about to finish recording, but the ones I’m making now are really awesome. They’ve turned out quite interesting. I think everyone will be excited when they hear them.”

-More than the songs you’ve already released?

“The new songs have a very different approach, and they’re funny songs. I created them with the show in mind.”

-I’m looking forward to it! You said, “with the show in mind,” but your original albums are always interlocking with the VISUALIVEs. So, firstly, can you tell us about the theme of this LAST VISUALIVE?

“I think that first I should talk about why the subtitle of this tour is ”Saigo no Tsuki“ ["Last Moon”]. I think there are sure to be a lot of people who think it’s because it’s the end of the “MOON” story, but that’s not quite right. This may be the LAST VISUALIVE, but the “MOON” story itself isn’t complete with this. There’s still a lot more to it. So it’s not saigo as in 最後 [“last”, “the end”], but saigo as in 最期 [this kanji carries the nuance of “the final moments of”, “dying days”]. It’s “the moon a person sees when they die”. Through the moon they see as they die, a person looks back on the path they walked through life… that’s the meaning of “Saigo no Tsuki”.“

-So when I publish this, you want me to spell it 最期, not 最後?

"Right. "LAST MOON” also means “the moon a person sees during the end of their life”. Both “LAST MOON” and “LAST VISUALIVE” have the same “LAST” when you write it in English, but the first thing I want you to understand is the meaning of the words “Saigo no Tsuki”. So the album LAST MOON has the theme of “what do people think when they look at the moon during their last moments?”

-I see.

“Also, this LAST VISUALIVE also portrays a much bigger world including Yoshitsune’s story. Because I’ve been showing Yoshitsune’s story in the stage shows "Mysteries of Yoshitsune, Chapter I and II”, there are probably people who think that the LAST VISUALIVE is bits and pieces of “Mysteries of Yoshitsune, Chapter III”. But that’s not it. From the beginning, the “MOON” story has a core of “The moon is always watching the tragedies that humanity repeats”, but the LAST VISUALIVE is also from this viewpoint of looking down and wondering “Why do people hurt others, and repeat the same mistakes?”, that’s the big theme it’s created on. I think it turns out to be something very deep.“

-I see. I think it’s deep and worth watching… So when did you start creating the new album LAST MOON based on that theme?

"How many years has it been…?”

-The oldest song included is “RETURNER ~Yami no Shuuen~”, which was released as a single in 2007…

“So 9 years then. Stupid, huh?”

-Right!

“You know, it’s a little hard for me when I say "Stupid, huh” and you immediately agree (laughs). You’re going to damage my self esteem (laughs).“

-Ahahahaha! No, I meant to agree with the fact that it’s been 9 years, but that was poor timing. Sorry about that.

"No, no, no, it really is stupid (laughs).”

-“RETURNER ~Yami no Shuuen~ was released 9 years ago, that means that even before the release of your previous original album RE:BORN (2009), you were internally seeing past that to LAST MOON. I’m surprised all over again.

"I think you’ll understand if you see the show, but I’ve been making it since the tour I did in 2004, THE SIXTH DAY AND SEVENTH NIGHT.”

-Now that you mention it, that show suddenly began with a “Japanese” view of the world, didn’t it? The moment the curtains opened, you and the band members were there in white costumes playing shamisen.

“Right. The concept for the LAST VISUALIVE began there.”

-That opening made a strong impression, and I remember the sight clearly even now. But… I can’t believe the concept for the LAST VISUALIVE began at that time! If it was 2004, that’s 12 years ago!

“It’s really too stupid (laughs). It was like "how many years am I gonna take to do this?” (laughs). So, since THE SIXTH DAY in 2004 I’ve had the concept for the LAST VISUALIVE. I had the concept, but next I did DIABOLOS in 2005, and then in between I did RRII (Requiem et Reminscence II) in 2009. But actually, at the time of RRII, I was already discussing doing this LAST MOON tour.“

-Really?

"Yeah. But I ended up with the story of RRII coming to me clearly first, and, if I did LAST MOON, I knew the interlocking "Yoshitsune” plays would take a long time, and I thought once I was done with them, I wouldn’t be able to do RRII any more. I also thought that after DIABOLOS, maybe I should do a story that wasn’t related to the “MOON” story. So I did RRII first. But since I managed to establish the form of the VISUALIVE with RRII, that makes me glad I did it first. I can face the LAST VISUALIVE with the form of the VISUALIVE already established, so I think I can express really interesting things.“

-It will certainly be a compilation of everything you’ve put into the VISUALIVEs so far. I think it will be amazing! And the new album “LAST MOON” really has turned out amazing. As I said at the beginning, each song is deep and overwhelming, and on the whole, a “Japanese” world view spreads through it, so I feel that this CD exemplifies “Zipang Rock” [=genre created by GACKT named after an old word for “Japan”].

“Well, I’ve been working this whole time to establish Zipang Rock. But it’s incredibly difficult. There are things that fit into the song, but also arrangements that make you go "No, we can’t do that”, and I have a lot of failed songs. There are a lot of songs on “LAST MOON” that use Japanese instruments, but if you ask me “Does putting Japanese instruments into it make it Zipang Rock?” the answer is no, definitely not. There are a lot of them, aren’t there. Foreign artists who put Japanese instruments in their songs and fail.

-They think it’s Japan-esque, but it ends up sounding like Chinese music.

“Exactly. It’s like "That’s not Japan, it’s China. Or Vietnam.” (laughs) You definitely can’t do it unless you have a uniquely Japanese sense. That said, there are a lot of Japanese people failing at it too.“

-It demands a certain subtle sense of balance, right?

"Yes. It’s important how you complete the songs to make them beautiful, and simply adding Japanese instruments doesn’t make it Zipang Rock. For example, Japanese rock music originated from Western rock music, and eventually the Visual Rock genre was born from that. At the beginning, that Visual Rock had a lot of cool music. There was extremely gothic stuff, and sexually obscene and introspective stuff. That’s because the musicians listened to a lot of music, including Western music, understood it, and then added in their own tastes, while trying new things. But the Visual Kei kids these days listen to Visual Kei music and try to make "Visual Kei” songs, so their world is becoming more shallow. Of course, some of the songs are good, but there are so many kids like that I think it’s a waste. If you don’t listen to lots of different songs, you can’t make anything new. In other words, what I want to say is, everything is like that, and so is Zipang Rock. If you don’t study and dig deep into Western music, Classical, Gagaku, lots of things before you try it, it won’t go well. It’s that audacity of “I can do it because I’m Japanese”.“

-In that way, you intensively study music of course, but also whatever you need to express your ideas, right? I think that’s the reason why you’ve been able to establish Zipang Rock like this.

"Well, I’m trying a lot of different things, but it’s certainly still difficult.”

-For example, on this album, there’s a song called “Hana mo Chiyu” that incorporates waka [Japanese poems, generally the kind with a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable pattern]. Is this also because you studied waka a lot to create songs?

“I did study them. But actually I’ve liked waka for a long time.”

-So you liked literature when you were at school?

“No, I hated literature when I was at school. I thought, "Why do we have to study this?” (laughs). But as I studied various things like the origin of waka, and why waka were created, and why the waka poem form exists, and how they changed little by little depending on the time period, I learned that there are a lot of wonderful waka poems. They’re like love letters… that’s the main point. And the form of those love letters is incredibly beautiful. But, waka are so short, aren’t they? You have to express your feelings in such a short poem. I thought that was amazing. The layers of knowledge created are definitely interesting in a certain way. When I was young I didn’t understand how wonderful it was, so I wondered why we had to study them, but now I think it’s a good part of Japanese culture. And, when we go to create something new, we definitely need to study old things.“

-Ah, I see.

"But, the reason I put waka in "Hana mo Chiyu” wasn’t just because I decided to throw it in there.“

-Huh?

"On the music side of things, when I thought about how to make the sounds fit together, modern lyrics just didn’t fit over the song. It just stunk, no matter how I did it. So I was wondering why, and then I decided to write what I wanted to say like a waka, and sing that. I realized that waka fit with irregular time signatures, particularly odd-numbered time signatures. For example, shifting from 8/8 time to 6/8 time is a really easy one out of the irregular time signatures, because it’s an even number. But when you have odd numbers like 5 beats or 7 beats, because there’s a catch in the rhythm, it’s hard to put modern lyrics over it. And when I put waka to an irregular beat, it fit really well.”

-Ah, because waka have a 5-7-5 pattern.

“Right. I think it’s interesting.”

Q. "Women build up men" and "Women should walk three steps behind...", isn't this way of thinking against gender equality?

I think that men and women should be granted equal rights, but I don't think they can be equal. Men and women have different bodies and physiologies. "Women walk three steps behind" was originally an art of samurai culture. I want you to imagine it. Even men want to walk holding their girlfriend's hand. "Walk three steps behind me" is the more difficult option. But to fulfill his duty of protecting the woman he loved, the samurai walked in front of her. They tried to be a model for society. On the other hand, the women chosen by the samurai, who were at the top of society, didn't say "Protect me!" to the men, instead they skilfully guided them by assuming the role of walking behind. That is the art of "building up". The Japanese have always been a people who were able to preserve a balance between men and women through these exquisite ways of expressing love. It is not necessary to accommodate Western values of everything being equal, and I think that trying to make men and women equal is in itself unreasonable.

Q. In the current age when there are many couples who both work, and women who earn more than men, does "women building up men" have its limits?

That's a question of balance, and isn't it better for the man and woman to decide for themselves which role they will take? For example, it's okay if the man takes care of the house and the woman goes to work. Problems occur when they don't think about the division of roles, and both try to become the leader of the house, or neither of them take a role. If I just say one thing, the more weak and useless a person is, the less they are able to notice when someone is building them up and be grateful for it. It's a shame, but a fact that the number of men like that is increasing. But because of that, women who are good at guiding will be chosen by good men. They will become that man's absolute pillar of psychological strength.

Q. ...That said, men, including you, GACKT, definitely prefer women with a pretty appearance, right?

It's natural for a man to prefer pretty women (laughs). But it's not simply about how balanced her face is. What decides if she matches me or not are various things unrelated to her appearance, like personality and food and sexual compatibility. Honestly even I think, "Ah!" when I spot a cute girl (laughs). But men are creatures that want to think at that point, "But my girlfriend is definitely better". That's another "art" of men. I've probably had more women approach me and more relationships than most people. Even so, I've never met a "ideal woman with everything", and that person probably doesn't exist for men or women. It's because both people live in pursuit of that ideal that we can live with gratitude for the partner who tries to get a little closer to it, and we can grow ourselves. It's over for men and women if they stop pursuing the ideal. That's what I think.

Q. What is the highlight of the play "MOON SAGA-Secret of Yoshitsune Chapter II- beginning in August?

We took on a lot of challenges, including wire work and animated backdrops, and this time we're incorporating a new projection mapping. You can experience a world you can only feel in modern plays, one that fuses analog and digital. We have our sights on doing performances overseas, so anyone who wants to know the history of the Minamoto clan should be able to enjoy it. It's the kind of story that will have everyone bawling by the end.

Q. The story continues from the previous play, and is about how you use the "power" that you have, and if that will open up the future. Multiple powers = GACKT seems to have talent, but what message is there in that?

I'm fundamentally incredibly unskilled. People look at me like I can do anything, but it's because I can't do anything that I practice twice as much as everyone else. When I thought about what my "power" is, I realized that my "power of not giving up" is probably stronger than anyone else's. At the same time, I came to know the shallowness of immediately giving up on things and saying, "It's impossible, I have no talent," because you can't do anything. "I have no talent," is something only those who have staked their life on continuing and still failed have the right to say. This tale depicts the difference between those who faced their own power properly, and those who didn't. The courage to protect others, and the power to rule others isn't something anyone is born with. Power is something that awakens in the instant you first gather up your courage, thinking of someone else from the bottom of your heart. This is something that will definitely come across in your love life and work. Within its amazing, never before seen visuals, this play is sure to have many parts that will sync with the real lives of the people watching it.

Zdroj:https://amaia.livejournal.com/318224.html